Could New York's Tech Sector Surpass Silicon Valley?

The business revolution of the next several decades will move
beyond the early tech plays — faster, smaller chips or connecting
people and information virtually. It will be about transforming large
industries that no longer meet their customers' demands into something
more efficient and personal.That can happen only where those industries are. Unlike Silicon Valley, New York has embraced businesses that marry technology and consumer goodsWhat do WeWork, Betterment, Warby Parker, Rent the Runway, Casper, Blue Apron, Compass, Cadre, and Peloton have in common?
Not only do they represent the next wave of technology disruption to traditional economies, but they were all born in New York City — the nerve center for the next business revolution.
But isn't Silicon Valley still the place for tech entrepreneurs to prove their chops? As a tech-company CEO who believes technology is the cornerstone of opportunity, I have felt the gravitational pull of Silicon Valley. Everything important in tech comes from there, right? HP, Intel, Apple, Facebook, Google, Salesforce and on and on. Where else would you
rather be? New York City. That's where.
The business revolution of the next several decades will move beyond the early tech plays — faster, smaller chips or connecting people and information virtually. It will be about transforming large industries that no longer meet their customers' demands into something more efficient and personal.
That can happen only where those industries are. So although Silicon Valley dominated the first wave of technology disruption, the advantage has shifted to New York, with its vastly greater diversity of businesses.
The city is the undisputed global leader in industries, from finance and advertising to fashion and the arts. To be part of the financial technology revolution, you join Betterment, LearnVest, Bond Street, and other startups in New York.
Just as Bloomberg LP benefited from knowing the nuances of financial services, so will New York's fintech disruptors. The same applies to Rent the Runway, Bonobos, Outdoor Voices and other New York–based, fashion-focused tech startups changing the way apparel is marketed and procured.
Similarly, WeWork and Compass, which are revolutionizing commercial workplaces and residential real estate, respectively, grew out of the densest real estate landscape in the country. Cadre, another city startup, benefits from our community's understanding of the financial and real estate worlds.
Do you want your national food delivery based out of the Valley or the culinary capital of the world? Enter Blue Apron. And the most innovative and successful company in local food delivery — a hallmark of New York — is Bronx-based FreshDirect.
There are less obvious examples that benefit from New York's size and diversity. It makes sense that Etsy, a marketplace for artisans, is headquartered in Brooklyn, where many of them hone and share their craft.
Of course, the most important and relevant tech-enabled digital-only media companies are here in the world's media capital: Vice Media, BuzzFeed, Quartz, theSkimm, Refinery29, MLB Advanced Media and others. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are themselves becoming tech companies as they try to survive the decline of their print business. All benefit from the city's unique positioning, diversity of thought and access to information.
Unlike Silicon Valley, New York has embraced businesses that marry technology and consumer goods, including my own company, Peloton. Our business could not have been born anywhere else. Peloton sells a high-end indoor bike with a touch screen to which we stream fitness classes from our New York studio to riders at home.
We learn from the likes of SoulCycle, Flywheel, Barry's Bootcamp, Equinox and other fitness companies that have built national brands out of New York. And as an aspiring global lifestyle brand, we benefit from our proximity to Fifth and Madison avenues, with its understanding of consumer sensibilities, retail, fashion, advertising, and branding.
As technology disruption moves into traditional industries, requiring deeper and more nuanced understanding, New York is poised to leverage its diversity of industry.
True, the next Instagram might still come out of Silicon Valley; some of the smartest and most ambitious tech entrepreneurs remain there. But the Valley's days as the undisputed leader in all things tech are numbered. There are just too many trends that an engineering-focused entrepreneur won't see if not in New York.
This has always been the city for multifaceted professionals who love diversity or aspire to learn across many different spectrums. Now it also is the place for those wishing to be part of the next generation of technology disruption.

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As a Partner and Co-Founder of Predictiv and PredictivAsia, Jon specializes in management performance and organizational effectiveness for both domestic and international clients. He is an editor and author whose works include Invisible Advantage: How Intangilbles are Driving Business Performance.Learn more...